Tsing Tao

EAT HERE NOW because they are closing… boo economy but they had a good. Rumor has it that a Korean restaurant owner bought the place so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a GOOD Korean restaurant in the Albany/​EL Cerrito area… so that I don’t have to trek all the way to Oakland.

I dug this place… food was delicious, fresh ingredients, cooked perfectly… they had this soup that was kind of weird… but everything else was yummy!
we got the family special… tons of food… less then $ 18 (with a generous tip) each…
servers were really nice and had a sense of humor… big plus for me…
it was a great place to have a chill dinner with out feeling super cramped with everyone else that’s out on a Saturday night… great place. will definitely return.

One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the Bay area! The food is CONSISTENTLY good. I’ve eaten there probably 25 times over the last 10 years and I can’t ever remember being disappointed.
What sets this restaurant apart from other Chinese restaurants (and prompts me to drive several miles from Alameda to eat there) is that they also offer Korean-​Chinese dishes in additional to the traditional Chinese fare. You won’t find Gampoonki (sweet-​hot honey garlic crispy fried chicken wings), Jajungmyun (noodles with savory black bean sauce), Jampoong (spicy seafood soup), and a few other dishes at other Chinese restaurants. In addition, the familiar Mongolian Beef dish there is to die for… the best version of Mongolian Beef I’ve ever found; not greasy, but with a deep smokey sear to the meat and served on cellophane noodles.
The place is very clean and the décor is upscale since a remodeling a few years ago. I’ve gone in a suit & tie with business associates and also in gym shorts with friends and have always felt comfortable and welcome. Service is fast and the same waitress has been serving us there for years. Prices are very reasonable.
Everybody I’ve brought to this restaurant (family, friends and business associates) have been very impressed with the food and service. Many of them have since become repeat customers of the restaurant. Try it once and you’ll be hooked… just save me a seat!

Craving Chinese food for lunch, my coworker and I decided to go here. The lunch crowd was an older crowd and it wasn’t crowded. A plus, as food came out fast.
Ordered the chicken with broccoli and she the bbq pork over rice. We both agreed the the food was OK. The chicken and broccoli lacked flavor in the sauce. Good thing I asked for hot mustard as it was able to add some flavor to the dish. She said that she had better tasting bbq pork elsewhere. The dish also came with a egg drop soup, which was also OK. I am not really a fan of it anyways. A small side salad is served as well. This I liked. The dressing was a peanut dressing. Which does prove to show that good thing do come in small packages. Dim sum is served daily, so maybe I will come back for this… maybe.

Superb!
I should note that my review is for the Korean-​Chinese food only – I haven’t had a chance to try any of their full Chinese dishes. There’s actually a separate menu that they give out upon request.
— Jajangmyun and jampong is the best in all of Bay Area; east bay, south bay, north bay, whatever! It doesn’t quite reflect the cultural meaning of either of those dishes as a super cheap, fast-​food dish served nationwide in Korea but a meals a meal. I’m more than happy to shell out a few more bucks for what they offer.
— Kampungi (fried chicken glazed in sauce) is also amazing. I really don’t know how they do it. The crust is glazed to a crisp and traps the heat down to the last piece. It’s crazy delicious.
Along with the classy décor and quiet atmosphere, it’s a great dining experience. Save one star for the fact that their service is a tad… abrupt. Hardly anything to keep me from eating there but noteworthy as it pales in comparison to a lot of Americanized dining establishments.

Some days meals are a chore; give me a pill of fullness and nutrition and I’ll wash my hands of it. Those days I eat Chinese food. Those days I wander into any old spot as long as its cheap and quick without doing my Unilocal research. Those days I anticipate disaster.
This was my state when we entered Tsing Tao. A group of Mandarin-​speaking folks yapped loudly outside, so we figured whatever awaited us wouldn’t be all that bad if we stuck to the specialties.
Settling into the clean, brightly colored booths, we were greeted with bag steeped tea (point deduction) and cabbage kimchee. Wait, Korean, what?! *shrug* It lacked a fermented kick, and was made with regular (non-​napa) cabbage, but who’s to complain when the price tag’s a whopping zero. Seafood and tofu claypot and mustard greens with garlic down, we concluded that in comparison to the NutriPill, we fared pretty well.

I don’t know exactly what this place defines itself as, but It’s ok!
The noodles were quite greasy, but the garlic chicken was a great mixture of green onion, water chestnut, and you guessed it: chicken.
The soup they give you with your meal is a pretty healthy portion, but the salad was definitely the winner in the pre-​meal stuffs.
For the price, it’s not a bad deal, though I’ve had much better.

The food is at best average. The Moo Shu pork was actually bad and (that’s usually a safe option at any restaurant), and the szechuan beef was pretty bland. Not too bad, but not spicy and not overly flavorful in my opinion. The prices aren’t high, but they aren’t low either.
Here’s the thing. Renee’s is right next store and uses fresh vegetables and high grade meat. Its a couple bucks more, but really not much difference. Tsing Tao isn’t bad food, but why would you go there when a much better place is next store? If you want anglo chinese, go to Renee’s and have a very nice treat.

We order take out from here all the time. We have eaten in the restaurant many times before, but with three young kids, and living so close by, I rather phone in and pick up the food. We love all of their food, you can ask for suggestions, they know what’s good obviously! The hostess is so friendly to us every time, she asks about our daughters, tells us about hers.
–Steamed fish fillet, yum! And no work to pick out bones. Fresh and flavorful. Even the one year old loves to eat it.
–Fried spicy chicken wings, yummy! The best flavor. Very gooey, sweet, spicy and garlicky.
–They have so many good dishes, try them all!

This place is not a Korean restaurant but is own by a Korean lady who can also prepare some Korean dishes if requested that are not on the menu.
Tsing Tao is really a Szechuan/​Mandarin restaurant. If you like semi-​spicy food, then this is the place to go for the HOT and SOUR Soup. It is the best that I have had and when I go to other restaurants, I try to compare and so far, this is the one to beat.
The best value is their fixed menu for dinner for 3 or dinner for 4. The nice thing about this place is that they will let you substitute one or more of the dishes for something else of comparable price for only $ 1. If an item is more expensive, then you just have to pay the difference and the extra $ 1. For my family, this is great because my daughter and my son both have certain items that they love.
I highly recommend ordering their Hot and Sour Soup. Pot Stickers, Princess Prawns and the best item there is the Garlic Chicken Wings. These are the items that are a MUST try.
Other items that are good is the Szechuan beef, string beans, and one of my friends loves their Szechuan Tofu. Their black bean noodles is good too.
I live in Alameda and we drive all the way to Albany at least once a month just to get satisfy our cravings. Give it a try and I am sure you will agree with me.

We ate at Tsing Tao because Liu’s was closed.
Thank God Liu’s wasn’t open that day. Tsing Tao is the shit.
It’s Clean, Decent prices, good service.
just go there. eat food.

I almost gave this place 1 star, but decided to give 2 because their dim sum was good and reasonably priced.
We ordered some dim sum stuffs and one more plate from the lunch menu. Again, dim sum was good. But, lunch plate, Honey BBQ rib over rice, was extremely bad. Imagine you made too much BBQ rib for your football day, kept them in ref, and microwaved next day, but little too much. That’s exactly what we got. Ribs were apparently hot in temperature wise, but were super super dry. I don’t cook, but «I» could tell. This is not a plate you can charge money.
This is the first and will be the last visit.

Its good for eating in if you don’t mind the cranky dominitrix waitress but I had the worst take out there. its as if they know that you can“t complain so they don’t give a s%@t. I ordered a serving of sizzling rice soup and it was all broth and like 4 pieces of chicken and no veggies. plus they are always rude. then they glare at you if you don’t leave more then 15% for crappy service.
but the food is good if you eat in…

Good stuff. The lunch specials are great. I love the free kimchi for the table.
Everything here is good quality, I used to drive a few miles to get here but now I live close by and love it.
Szechwan Beef is my favorite crack candy there. Good Hot and Sour soup too.
Yoshi are you sure you were at Tsing Tao, they don’t do dim sum there but the place up the street does (King Tsin).
Update on 6-​14-​2009: I am sad today. My friend was served some chicken that definitely was not right, might have been spoiled so we sent it back. The owner was present and didn’t offer any apologies. The waitress said that they didn’t think anything was wrong with it in effect calling us crazy. Not cool. I have been going there for 13 years and nothing like this has ever happened but I have to say I am very disappointed and downgrading them to a 3 star.
Update 2: Got over the event above and went back to 4 star. I missed this place and their awesome lunch specials.

My experience at this restaurant was HORRIBLE! They served me SPOILED calamari that reeked! After complaining about the food, the owner tried to convince me that the seafood was fresh. They were not apologetic and did not offer any compensation. The waitress had a BAD ATTITUDE and the «owner» had a WORST ATTITUDE.
If you want to have CRAPY SERVICE and SPOILED FOOD then go spend your money on this shitty place! If not, TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW THIS PLACE SUCKS AND DON’T LET THE LOCATION (ALBANY) FOOL YOU.

Lunch Special deserves 4 stars. Other stuff … whatever.
I live so close to this place. I love eating there at lunch time. Sometimes I realize the time based on when their lunch special ends.
If you’re within 3 miles, I’d hit that place at lunch.
** Be warned, I think they’re closed Mondays. **

Some Korean Chinese with their kimchee and soju cocktails. Schezuan chicken — deelicious. Tofu + veggies (bamboo, carrots, celery, broccoli, mushrooms, black beans) — fair. I’m a super fan of hot & sour soup and this one was chock full of stuff (bits of shrimp, tofu, bamboo, pork, cloud ears) with a little kick. Like the lemon water and the cleansing tea. Albany-​fied Chinese food & décor. Appropriately oriental (I can use that word) tables, chairs, pictures, etc. Not divey — Chinese food for the American palate. I’m a twinkie who likes this stuff.

I have eaten on and off here for over 25 years and have never had a bad meal.
The dry sauted squid and Mongolian beef have been staples at this place that are as good as it gets.
Some of the reviews that I see listed remind me that there are many people whose repertoire in terms of what is good Chinese, comes from the steam trays at Mr. Chau’s.
Lookit, chow mein, sweet and sour pork and the such, are for the pallets of 11 year olds.
If Mr Chau’s or the Panda Express are your cup of tea, then go there and stop cluttering up these review pages with your whiny non-​sequiturs.

no.

Jja jang myun is thick, handmade flour-​based noodles topped with a black bean based sauce that includes pork, shrimp and vegetables. In Korea, jja jang myun delivery is as common as pizza delivery in the States. When made right, it is deliciously satisfying. Tsing Tao does it right — best jja jang myun I’ve had in the bay area.
Koreans call jja jang myun «Chinese» the way Americans call burritos «Mexican», but you won’t actually find jja jang myun in China or burritos in Mexico. Jja jang myun was created in Korea by Chinese immigrants the way burritos were created in the States by Mexican immigrants. Chinese-​Korean restaurants usually serve up the Chinese version of kimchi, made with regular cabbage rather than napa cabbage and satisfying in its own way.
If you are Korean, Tsing Tao will place a Korean menu in front of you that includes jja jang myun and jjam bbong (handmade flour noodles in a spicy rich seafood broth), but you won’t find these on the English menu (at least not the last time I checked).
Order the yang jang pi — flat glass noodles tossed tableside with stir-​fried pork, sea cucumbers, egg, shrimp, squid, cucumbers and carrots in a spicy mustard sauce. It is the best Chinese-​Korean dish EVER, period. I always order this when I visit Tsing Tao and am never disappointed.
Also order the jja jang myun, which will arrive with the noodles in one bowl and the sauce in another. Pour the sauce over the noodles, mix thoroughly and dig in. Don’t forget to wipe your mouth afterward, you’ll probably have a black bean mustache.